Larsson gets the Foxes’ tail for TBV
TBV wins 29:26 against the Berlin Foxes
TBV Lemgo won their second game of the season. At the Berlin Foxes TBV dominated with a score of 29:25 (15:13) and celebrated an ideal start in the league, even though things did not look promising ahead of the game.
On Saturday a heavy setback for TBV was looming. Carsten Lichtlein woke up with strong stomach pains which after an examination turned out to be appendicitis. Lichtlein had to stay at home, as the hope that by Sunday the inflammation would have subsided soon disappeared. Thus, Jasper Larsson was on his own since the game rules state that the first two games of the season may only be played in the same team configuration. Consequently, the two regional league keepers were not eligible to play.
Right at the start TBV missed a penalty, Schmetz failed against Heinevetter. Schneider scored for the hosts but Glandorf countered immediately. In the 5th minute, Kubes intercepted a pass by Heinevetter and scored in a counterattack, taking TBV into the lead for the first time. A balanced game ensued. Jasper Larsson performed well in goal and together with a good defence up front created some advantages for TBV but Heinevetter on the opposite side kept his team in the game. In the 10th minute Laen was thus able to equalise at 4:4. One player more and Volker Mudrow sent Florian Kehrmann to the forefront, a move that made an impact. However, TBV made two errors in the attack allowing the Foxes to take the lead in the 14th minute at 5:7 and two minutes later the hosts were leading by three goals at 6:9.
After 17:44 minutes Mudrow took his first-period time-out. In particular the sloppiness in the attack and the bad passes were a thorn in his side. The back was not causing enough pressure for the coach’s liking. However, the countless mistakes continued. Berlin achieved the 7:11 in the 23rd minute through a seven metre after Larsson had managed to keep them at bay with some brilliant saves. And then all at once everything came together for TBV.
A thundering throw by Ilyés in the 25th minute made it 9:11. After Larsson had again made a super save, Kehrmann scored from the wing against Stochi, who had taken over in the Foxes' goal, to make it 10:11. Then once again Kehrmann to 11:11 after a counterattack - now it was the Foxes making the mistakes and TBV got going. Kubes used the next mistake to take a 12:11 lead. In the 28th minute, a time penalty against Ilyés brought an advantage for the Foxes but Kehrmann snatched a pass from the half-back and scored to make it 14:12. TBV managed to hold the two-goal lead until the half-time whistle and went to the dressing room leading 15:13.
After the break, a standfast defence took the fight out of the Foxes, a brilliant interaction between Strobel and Preiss followed and TBV were leading 16:13. A great counterattack by Glandorf and Strobel in the 35th minute made it 18:14, TBV controlled the game. Subsequently, Jasper Larsson parried a seven metre against Wilczynski, Glandorf exploited the psychological advantage and increased the score to 19:14. A moment of shock came in the 37th minute. Again Larsson was there with an excellent save. Then the rebound was transferred in a flash to Kehrmann who after scoring crashed into Heinevetter and was hit in the face. However, Kehrmann was able to carry on but by minute 42 the Foxes had at least managed,to cut the lead to four goals. TBV became a little negligent but were able to rely on the brilliant Larsson. At 21:17, Volker Mudrow took his second-period time-out and calmed things down.
Michael Kraus then scored to make it 22:17 leaving Heinevetter no chance from the penalty spot. The defence stood unbelievably firm and did not allow the Foxes to develop their game. So Sigurdsson took his time-out in the 46th minute and appealed once more to his team to give their all. Subsequently, however, it was Larsson who saved the next penalty from Wilczynski; the Swede was the most valuable player in the TBV team.
In the 50th minute Laen for Berlin cut the lead back to 23:19 and in addition Hermann was sent to the sin-bin for two minutes. However, Glandorf responded to the critical first phase with a goal - 24:19. Nevertheless, at the end of the time penalty the score was back to 24:21, the game entered a decisive phase. Wilczynski was successful via a counterattack to make it 24:22 but in return Glandorf scored from the back.
The game went to and fro, Berlin kept up, TBV could not afford to make mistakes at this point. In the 54th minute, however, the time had come: Jaszka cut the lead to 25:24, the Foxes were back. With a brilliant throw, Glandorf stopped the comeback but in the 55th minute Preiss had to leave the field for two minutes. The more than 7,000 spectators in the Arena sniffed a chance. A save from Larsson and a standing throw by Kraus from a good ten metres moved the score to 27:24. At 27:25 it was Goede who was suddenly completely unguarded in front of Larsson but again the Swede held brilliantly. However, the game remained tense because TBV tried to force it via the circle again, which resulted in a technical error.
But ultimately a strong defence and the individual qualities of the TBV players prevailed and a well-deserved 29:26 win was the reward.
Volker Mudrow: These are two important points, as Berlin was stronger than last year and have strengthened their team well. Even though we were three goals down in the first half we stayed calm and were able to step up our game. We had the necessary patience and started the second half well. This was crucial and allowed us to take a significant lead.
Dagur Sigurdsson: That was a very good game by Lemgo. We made too many technical errors, which Lemgo used to create counterattacks. However, at least we showed that we can fight and managed to close the gap in the second half. We have learned a lot from this game and we need to improve our performance.